


October Surprise

by missdibley



Series: The Hallow Crown [3]
Category: British Actor RPF, Friend Request Pending (2011), Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Costume Party, F/M, Fancy Dress Party, Flirting, Friend Request Pending - Freeform, Halloween, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 08:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8438632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/pseuds/missdibley
Summary: A costume party hosted by their best friends Jason and Lola bring Tom and Jamilah back together.





	

The theme of Jason and Lola’s Halloween party was “Second of Your Name”, inspired by their spring-time binge watch of “Game of Thrones”. Guests were instructed to come dressed as a notable person who had the same name as they did. While Lola’s best friend Jamilah struggled to come up with a costume (finally settling on a dress with covered with heat transfers of books by the the children’s author Jamila Gavin), she had no problem recognizing her friends.

Her friend Amy fiddled with the large beehive wig and repaired the tattoos she’d drawn on her arms with a cheap eyeliner pencil, pausing every so often to croon the chorus from Amy Winehouses’s “Back To Black”. Jason’s cousin Michelle was strutting around the living room, microphone in hand, wearing a purple shift dress and sensible heels like her idol Michelle Obama. All of the Davids in attendance had coordinated beforehand, arriving one after another as various incarnations of the late David Bowie.

Jamilah smiled when she caught sight of her best friend, who sauntered out of the kitchen in a short black dress and white satin top hat. Lola greeted people with a thick German accent, vamping it up as Marlene Dietrich’s Lola Lola from _The Blue Angel_.

Lola set the tray down on the buffet table. She pointed in the direction of the living room with her cane. “Go sing something — we’re doing prizes!”

“Nah, I’m okay.” Jamilah tried to look casual as she scanned the apartment.

Lola smiled to herself as she rearranged some grapes on the cheeseboard. “He’s not here yet.”

“Who’s not here?” Jamilah said, a bit louder than she intended.

“Tom.” Lola stuck her hand on her hip. “He texted Jase earlier. Said he was running a bit late.”

“Tom who?” Jamilah avoided her friend’s sharp gaze.

 _“Tom who?”_ Lola sang. “Nice try.”

Jason, Lola’s beloved and a close friend of Tom’s, appeared at Lola’s side. “Tom’s gonna be late, in case you were wondering, Mila.” He offered the bowl of rice crackers to Jamilah, who waved it away.

“I wasn’t wondering!” Jamilah cried.

Jason snorted with laughter. “Methinks the lady protest too much, yadda yadda.”

“Darling, go make sure the karaoke bloke has enough to drink? And take that from Mila.” She nodded at the bottle of wine, still in its brown paper bag, in Jamilah’s hands. “Thank you, love.” Lola offered her cheek to Jason, who wore a hockey mask like the villain of the _Friday The 13th_ movies. After a quick kiss, he moved on to mingle, leaving Lola to continue her friendly interrogation. Her warm brown eyes were merry as she watched Jamilah pretend to care about which biscuits she chose for herself. “How’s Tom?”

“What are you talking about?” Jamilah sat down on a bench, waiting for Lola to join her.

“What do you mean? It’s been eight months since we all met that day at the pub.”

“Eight months since you and Jason met and, like the adorable koalas that you are, fell smack dab in love.” Jamilah looked pleased. “Really, I’d hate the two of you if I didn’t adore you so much.”

“Yes,” said Lola dreamily. She arched an eyebrow at Jamilah. “Eight months of me and Jason trying to get you and Tom to join us on nights out, day trips to the country. And yet you always seem to be busy.”

“Well, Freddie and Oscar’s truck. They have been awfully busy.” Jamilah waved a carrot stick in the air for emphasis. “Them and Tita Auring needed help with that, finding suppliers, booking the festivals, getting the second truck. And now with the restaurant opening in January. You’re their publicist, you should know. No time for dating.”

“Yeah, but Mila, you have literally a gazillion sisters and cousins.” Lola looked patient. “There’s no shortage of help.”

“I’m a project manager, and you know that working with family is a nightmare.” Jamilah nodded. “It’s like herding cats, if the cats were feral and Filipino.”

Lola threw up her arms. “Whatever. I saw you two that afternoon. All cute at the truck, playing dumb when me and Jason asked how you got on at the pub after we left.”

“Fine,” insisted Jamilah. “We got on fine.”

A hubbub at the door caught their attention. Tom had arrived, his curly blond hair a mess after he removed his astronaut’s helmet. Catching Lola’s eye, he pushed through the crowd to greet his charming host.

“Lo!” He knelt on the floor in front of them, wrapping his arm around Lola as she kissed his cheek. When she quirked an eyebrow at him, he grinned. “Major Tom, y’know. From ‘Space Oddity’, and ‘Ashes to Ashes’”. He winked at Jamilah. “Hey.”

Jamilah rolled her eyes. “Hey.”

“How are you, Tom?” Lola looked at their faces closely. “You remember  Jamilah.”

“I do. We met…” He rubbed his chin. “Was it that vegan rave in Surrey?”

“No.”

“Celtic drama festival in Newcastle?”

“It was that pub, back in February? When Lola and Jason met.” Jamilah gave him her most withering look.

“So _that_ was you!” Tom crossed his eyes. “I could have sworn it was the topless beach in Villefranche.”

“I’ve never been to the South of France, Tom,” said Jamilah coolly.

His eyebrows shot up. “Curious that you didn’t deny going to a topless beach.”

“Enough flirting!” Lola could barely repress a giggle. “You two insist you haven’t seen each other since February, but I KNOW YOU. I’m going to catch you…”

“Oh Lola,” Jamilah pleaded.

“I’m going to catch you,” Lola said sweetly. “You’re going to confess all, and then…” She pushed herself up and unfolded her cane. “I’m going to marry you two off and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

Tom got to his feet and kissed the top of Lola’s head. “You’re adorable when you’re wrong. I can see why Jase is mad for you.”

Lola shook her fist at Tom, then went off to check the bar supplies.

Tom stood looking after her, a tentative smile on his lips. “So…”

Jamilah got up but didn’t dare look at him. “So.”

“I heard you went to Portugal.”

“I did.”

“Lisbon.”

“With a day trip to Porto, too.”

“Nice hotel in the Chiado?”

“No — little flat near the cemetery.”

“How’d you find it?”

Jamilah looked at him. “I didn't. You booked it.”

Tom gave a small nod. “That I did.”

“Good job. What did you tell Luke?”

“I told him I was in Lisbon with mum.”

“Where is she?”

“Home sick. She didn’t leave the house all weekend.”

“Is she alright?”

“Yeah, Emma’s up there.”

“Good.” Jamilah popped a biscuit in her mouth.

“What did you tell your cousins?”

“Research trip to Madrid.”

“Lots of Filipino cooking there?”

“Pork. Lots of pork.”

Tom tilted his head as he considered her face under the light cast by the chandelier above them. She looked pretty, if a bit cautious. “I thought you were going to Mary’s thing at the bar…”

“I am, but I thought I’d stop here first because you were going to go early to…”

“Pete’s birthday in Camden?” Tom shook his head. “He passed out drunk before we left the first pub.”

“Amateur,” said Jamilah with a whistle.

“Right.” Tom couldn’t help but look at Jamilah, a gleam in his eye. “So how soon before we go back to mine and I shag you rotten?”

Jamilah didn’t dare smile back. “Didn’t we just do that last night?”

“Touché.”

“Hey guys.” Jason appeared, Jamilah’s unopened bottle of wine still in his hand. Lola sidled up next to him, slipping her hand into the crook of his arm.

“Jason!” Tom nodded at the bottle. “What’s that?”

Jason looked his friend in pretend shock. “Bottle of wine. Yours, in fact.”

“What?” Jamilah looked confused. “I’m pretty sure that’s the wine I brought you. I recognized the label.” She gave Tom a bit of side-eye. “You didn’t get them anything.”

“Oh?” Jason looked at Lola, who had begun to giggle. “If it’s your bottle, Jamilah, then why…” He pulled a slip of paper, stuck to the bottle with the help of some water that had condensed on its side. “Why is it Tom’s name on the credit card receipt?”

And there it was. A receipt for a venerable ancient wine shop in sunny Lisbon, a yellow carbon with a messy signature at the bottom.

Tom shrugged. “That chicken scratch? Sorry, mate. Don’t recognize it.”

“Oh but Tom,” said Lola, “Darling, that is your name PRINTED right below.”

Jamilah and Tom leaned in and read the offending text: “HIDDLESTON, TOM”. They looked at the line, then at each other. Their cheeks were pink.

Lola patted Jamilah’s arm. “Really, Mila. I knew it would be easy. But _this_ easy?” With a well deserved cackle, Lola returned to the kitchen with Jason in triumph.

Before Tom could laugh, Jamilah shook her head. “Don’t.”

“Why?”

“We’re in so much trouble.”

“How are we in trouble?”

“I told Lola I’ve been too busy with work to date. And didn’t you tell Luke you were single?”

“I may have been crossing my fingers behind my back.”

“Did you learn that at Eton?”

“Nursery school,” replied Tom loftily. “Will your grandfather be very angry?”

“You mean about his oldest and favorite granddaughter running around with an actor? He may actually explode.”

“How long do you think?”

“That we have until everybody finds out?”

“Yeah.” Tom held his hand out.

Jamilah took it, smiling to herself when he ran his thumb over her knuckles. That soothed her. “It’s Saturday night now, so I’d say, depending on Lola’s blabbermouth, and the amount of friends we have in common here?”

“30 minutes, give or take?” Tom guessed.

“Yeah,” Jamilah said with a laugh.

Tom jerked his head at the door. “Back to mine, then?”

Jamilah pretended to look shocked. “Whatever for, Mr. Hiddleston? We literally _just_ got here.”

“If we’re going to be subjected to torture and possible death for concealing the fact that we’ve been dating…”

“We’re dating?” Jamilah asked innocently.

“Yes, dating.” Tom looked serious. “We deserve one last night of freedom.”

“Agreed, Hiddleston.” Jamilah sighed with relief. “Lead the way.”


End file.
